Friday

Today was supposed to be "pull-up" day.  That is when we are told by Fish and Game that our nets need to be out of the water, for a certain period of time, by 9pm.  We got a 72 hour extension which is nice.  We are hoping that it will just keep getting extended for awhile.  We only have part of our gear in the water currently but that has been just fine.  There has been a tremendous amount of kelp (we call it dirt) in the water.  This is not good when you are trying to catch fish with your "invisible" net!  So the fishermen have been working hard trying to keep the nets clean and praying for some fish at the same time.  It is always good to be fishing though.  Can't make money if your nets are on shore.

I mentioned before that the Barbers left.  We now have 2 new crewmen - Austin and Justin.  Austin is Adam's brother and Justin fished for us 2 years ago.  Everyone is learning the ropes and getting along fine.  We are really fortunate with the help that we have this year.  We also have company - Bob.  He is our neighbor in Seattle.  This is his third year here visiting us.  He is always a pleasure to have and he likes it here too so it all works out - ha!  The interesting thing about Bob is that he used to fish out here - just down the beach from us - when he was a teenager.  Small world isn't it?  It is fun to listen to the memories he has about the area and I know he enjoys being a part of it again.  This is definitely a special place.

The picture is of Justin, Adam and Bob delivering to our tender the Sierra Seas.  Justin is on the left.  Adam is sort of in the middle - the one facing the camera.  Bob is closest to the tender in the lighter color coat.  We deliver our fish to our tender 3 times a day.  We pick the fish 3 times a day and the salmon are put into slush ice in insulated totes as we get them.  The totes are lined with bags that are then lifted by the crane on the tender.  This is attached to a scale so that we know how many pounds we've caught.  Each species of fish has a different price per pound, so we separate them as we catch them in the skiff.  Once the fish are weighed and recorded, the are dumped into the hold of the boat that has refrigerated sea water in it.  The tender delivers the fish to our cannery every evening.  He is back out here in the morning with any groceries we may have ordered, our mail, and ready to take our new fish.